Angola Prison

This past fall, I went to the Louisiana State Penitentiary (aka Angola). The bad news is that it is the largest prison in Louisiana, and a high security facility. The good news is that I was only there for the day.

I was there for the 48th Annual Angola Prison Rodeo.They have a web site which features tickets for the spring event.

First of all, getting in....there was a line of cars from US-61 which wound down the 20 or miles or so into what seemed like wilderness in the direction of the River. Then I had to go through the checkpoint. They gave us a list of what we were allowed to bring with us onto the rodeo grounds. Included in the "no" list were cameras as well as even cell phones and knives. There was a checkpoint at the pedestrian gate, and folks who had bags (like purses) had those searched.

I bought the program, and started by looking at the crafts. Part of the "rodeo event" is the arts and crafts market which accompanies it, and surrounds the rodeo arena. The craft sales are one of the ways that inmates can earn money. It is a massive exhibit, and includes many interesting items. (But no photos, no cameras or even cell phones allowed inside -- see above.)

The program has some interesting tidbits. The prison:

• is one of only three accredited by the American Correctional Association (ACA)
• is the largest in Louisiana -- 5,149
• is on 18,000 acres 
• grows enough fresh produce to feed 11,000 inmates in five prisons year around
• has the only FCC licensed, prisoner run radio station (KLSP 97.1 FM)
• is the only prison with its own zip code (70712)
• has the highest percentage of its inmates serving life sentences (75%); 1.6% are under the death sentence
• has been the setting for many movies (but not Cool Hand Luke).

The rodeo part is a combination of events from a professional rodeo circuit, entertainment, and events with inmates. For me, it was the first time I had ever sat through a "full" rodeo or even seen all of any one rodeo event. The entertainment is, well, just that. Most of the entertainment is built around horses and rodeo type events. The most interesting part are the events with the inmates. The web site describes the events. Words cannot do justice to these events. For instance Convict Poker. Four inmate cowboys sit at a table in the middle of the arena at a poker table.  Suddenly, a wild bull is released with the sole purpose of unseating the poker players.  The last man remaining seated is the winner. It takes a lot more than I have to sit there knowing that a a wild bull is about to be released. When the bull is released, the inmates stay seated, sometimes even as the bull -- encouraged by the rodeo riders and rodeo clowns -- heads straight at them.

If you ever have a chance, it is worth a visit.

For me, the added interest involves my job. One of the things that reference staff (small "r" since it is both Reference Staff and Louisiana Section Staff) answer questions mailed to us by inmates. Many, many of these letters come from Angola -- the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

Reading and a Book Review: Hidden America

I don't often do book reviews. I have started receiving ARC's (Advance Readers Copies) in greater volume lately, and I don't know why. Because of what else is going on in my life, my reading time has been reduced. I have also been shifting between my e-reader and print.

However, I recently finished Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys... by Jeanne Marie Laskas. One of the blurbs on the back compares Ms. Laskas to Studs Terkel, in a positive way. That is high praise, indeed.

It is a well written book and each chapter tells a discrete story. The first chapter, on coal miners, appeared as a separate article, and the others are similarly able to stand independently. Each are the personal story of Ms. Laskas as she explores some of the jobs or people who are critical to the running of the country on a day to day basis. By exploring the personal stories, we get a glimpse behind the scenes. They are fascinating glimpses which put a personal face on what happens to make our lives so comfortable.

The first chapter explores coal mining in Ohio. (Yes, there are underground coal mines under parts of Ohio.) The subsequent chapters cover migrant workers (mostly in Maine for the blueberry harvest), the cheerleaders for the Cleveland Browns, air traffic controllers at LaGuardia, a gun store in Yuma (Arizona), a cattle ranch in Texas, an oil rig in the Arctic, a truck driver (from Ohio to Iowa and back), and the "sanitary landfill" outside Los Angeles.

It is an amazing journey to follow, and I even learned a little about the author along the way. For those who can extrapolate from the personal stories to the general, this can be a very instructive book. I actually read the chapter on the air traffic controllers while on a trip. There are some scary things going on behind the scenes. I read the story on the gun store after the incident in Newtown which added a poignancy to some of what was expressed in that story.

Parliamentary Procedure - Redux

For those who doubted any part of my last post, here is a photo of a section of one of my book shelves.

Parliamentary Procedure

I have not written about this topic for a bit, but a recent incident has prompted me.

I am a little bit of a "process junkie" and have been from way back. Maybe it was growing up in a large family (I have seven younger brothers and sisters). It definitely comes from my father. He was active in local "affairs." At various times he was on the Board of Health, served on state associations related to that, and had been elected to the Town Meeting. [Aside: in New England, some of the larger towns, rather than having a Town Meeting where everyone gets to speak and vote, there is a Representative Town Meeting, where  people run, and are elected to represent a district. The town I grew up in is one such town. There were about 20 (or more) people from each of the 6 precincts who served on the Town Meeting. My father was one.]

Next to his chair, there was a book case (of course), and among the things in the book case were a couple of editions of Roberts Rules of Order, as well as Cushing's Manual.(Here is the Roberts web site, as well as the Wikipedia article. here is the Amazon link to the latest edition of Cushing, mine is older!) He would take me to the Town Meeting, and I got to sit in the audience. Before and after, he would explain some of the intricacies of what was going on. (Well, also at the "smoking break.") I have to believe, that learning about this at my father's knee, is part of what has given me my love of process.

Well, on to my most recent experience. A library user came up to the desk looking for Mason's Manual of Legislative Procedure. I had never hear of it, but sure enough, the library owns it -- two copies, actually, one in Reference, and one in our circulating collection. She wanted to make some copies, so I directed her to the machines. In a little bit, she was back.

She could not find what she wanted. I took a look in the index, for a moment or two I was stymied. But then I remembered some of my lessons from ALA's wonderful Parliamentarian, Eli Mina. I thought, "how would Eli express this question as a parliamentary one." That was just what I needed. I looked in a different part of the index, flipped to the page, and there was exactly what she was looking for.

After she left, I took a closer look at the book. Now, everyone knows, well at least refers, to Roberts Rules of Order, but there are others. Actually the American Library Association uses the Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure edited by Alice Stugis (4th edition). Over my years of service, I became familiar with the 3rd and 4th editions under the tutelage of two different parliamentarians.

When I opened Mason's, there is an introduction which includes a list of ten "principles that govern procedure in group decision making." What a revelation! One of the headers after the listing of principles is "Principles are easier than rules to remember and apply." I guess that if I had been paying closer attention to Eli Mina, I would have realized that. It is how he operates. That and there is a principle of fairness to avoid the tyranny of the majority.

The next time I chat (in person or electronically) with Eli Mina, one of the things we will talk about is the principles and why Mason's does not have as much "traction" as a parliamentary guide. Hey, I will admit it. This is the kind of geeky stuff that I find fun. One of the joys of my service on ALA Council was in finding a number of other kindred spirits.

This post was written over a couple days. I scheduled it to post on December 7. That is an important day to me. The "date that will live in infamy" was my father's 15th birthday. If he had lived, he would have been 86. This can be a little bit of a tribute who someone who died way too young for my liking. He was 48 when he died in 1975. I was 21.

Passwords - Humor and a gripe

I picked this up from Stephen Abram (always has good "stuff"). It is about choosing a password. He picked it up from newsbiscuit.com which seems to be like the Onion, but British.

Their humorous post begins "Popular pet names Rover, Cheryl and Kate could be a thing of the past. Banks are now advising parents to think carefully before naming their child’s first pet. For security reasons, the chosen name should have at least eight characters, a capital letter and a digit."

Which gets to my gripe. It is a two part gripe. First is about passwords. If you are going to let me choose a password, let me choos it! Yes, tell me if it is strong or not, but don't require things like at least one capital letter, one special character, and one number ... and if you do, tell me BEFORE I try to create it the first time! My second gripe is this: If you want me to use my email to identify my account, DO NOT CALL IT A "USERNAME"!! A "username" is just that. The name of the user, and one which I can choose. (With an unusual last name, I don't have too much trouble getting what I want.) If you want me to use my email address, TELL ME THAT!!

OK, I'll get off my soapbox now!